I Just Want Players to Save Money, They Insist on Giving Me!
Chapter 525 - 171: We Don’t Sell Cartridges, We’re Just Cartridge Movers!_4

Chapter 525: Chapter 171: We Don’t Sell Cartridges, We’re Just Cartridge Movers!_4

So, Ma Yang got up bright and early, heading to his little shop as soon as he could.

To his surprise,

there were already customers waiting outside before he even opened the doors.

It was one of the two kids from the first pair of customers yesterday.

What’s more, he came with his dad in tow.

"This kid, just kept nagging me last night to bring him here today to play."

"I had no choice, his grades from the monthly test were good, so I indulged him,"

a middle-aged man said to Ma Yang with a smile.

However, Ma Yang sharply sensed something.

This father, despite saying he was indulging his child,

looked at Ma Yang with a certain wariness in his eyes.

Ma Yang could understand the parental instinct to be cautious.

After all, nobody would dare to let their child linger too long in a strange environment, let alone in a game store.

Though with the advancement of time, the new generation of parents were no longer as fearful about video games as the old generation.

After all, many of them belonged to the same generation as Ma Yang and had come from the arcade culture of their childhood, so they somewhat understood.

But if you were to say they thought gaming was entirely positive, that definitely wouldn’t be true.

Without further conversation, once Ma Yang opened the store,

the middle-aged man was the first to step in.

He walked around the small shop with his hands behind his back, resembling a leader conducting an inspection.

Cai Xing originally came to nitpick.

He wanted to find all kinds of excuses to dissuade his son from playing video games outside.

But with no choice as his wife was a strong-willed woman who made all the decisions at home,

he would have indeed bought his son a Switch.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be; his monthly allowance didn’t even surpass the price of a Switch.

Walking around, Cai Xing found he couldn’t find any faults.

Despite its size, the shop was quite legitimate in all aspects.

The walls facing the street were all transparent two-way glass, allowing a clear view of everything happening inside.

Even the lighting was great.

The early morning sun shone in, brightening the entire room brilliantly.

There wasn’t anything inappropriate for children inside either.

From the murals on the walls to the various decorative stickers, there was a sense of childlike innocence and playfulness throughout.

It was as if the place had been specially made for children.

And after a quick look at the game cartridges displayed on the counter,

the three distinctly styled cartridges featured a red-hatted character, a round pink character, and whimsical cartoon graffiti—

all things that children liked.

"Hmm..."

Cai Xing was at a loss for words for a moment and could only watch in frustration as his child ran excitedly to the counter to start the console.

"Uncle, help me get five hours!"

As soon as the child spoke, Cai Xing became anxious.

"What five hours? What did we say before we came out? Two hours at most!"

As he finished his sentence, Cai Xing forcefully made his youngster alter the time to two hours.

As the child eagerly picked up the controller and began navigating the bearded character in the game, Cai Xing stood beside him, his face showing the same frustration and helplessness he had when accompanying his wife shopping.

"It’s just a broken game, what’s so fun about it, I really don’t get it," Cai Xing muttered as he watched the game’s childish graphics and shook his head.

But soon, he noticed his silly son seemed to be baffled by such a simple game,

stuck at a platform that required a big jump, failing countless times for ages.

Cai Xing himself was getting anxious watching it.

"Out of the way! Watch how your dad does it!"

"You haven’t inherited a bit of your dad’s brains, have you?"

He snatched the controller from the child’s hands and, after familiarizing himself with the controls, officially started playing.

Quickly, he realized the platform was indeed tricky to handle.

The platform was suspended in mid-air, too narrow,

if he jumped too forcefully he would overshoot it, and not reaching enough meant falling off.

After about five minutes of trying, he finally managed to stand on the platform successfully.

He intended to give the controller back to the child,

but out of the corner of his eye, he saw a new path unfolding before the platform.

It turned out that the platform under his feet was itself a mechanism that activated a hidden path when stepped on.

And it was even steeper and narrower than before.

"You definitely can’t get past this section, I’ll help you through," Cai Xing muttered to himself, again immersing himself in a new round of play.

After a dozen or so failures, he finally reached the end of the platform and received the hidden moon reward.

But Cai Xing saw even farther away, there were several shiny Purple Coins.

Hmm, the difficulty’s not small; better collect them all for the kid.

Huh? What’s this flower for? I’ll try it for my child.

Wow, this stone can talk? I’ll listen to what it says for my child.

Wow! This missile can be possessed?

As he played, Cai Xing realized...

Shh! This game... seems kind of interesting?

Cai Xing couldn’t quite explain it, but it just felt like something he could joyfully and relaxedly play on and on.

Kid, let Dad experience this joy for you.

Now, it was the child’s turn to get anxious.

"Dad, give it to me! Give it back to me now! I don’t need your help anymore!"

"Eh, you definitely can’t get past this level; watch your dad help you."

How could he possibly ignore the agony of his dumb son being unable to get past a level!

This is what’s known as the loving hearts of parents the world over!

...

Seeing that Cai Xing had also become completely immersed in the world of Odyssey, Ma Yang showed a knowing smile.

It was almost exactly the same state of mind he had when he first experienced it; he knew this feeling all too well.